IntelliDev

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Know when to take a break — before burnout takes you.

💡 Works anywhere VS Code extensions run — VS Code, VSCodium, Cursor, Gitpod, and any editor on the Open VSX registry.

What is IntelliDev?

IntelliDev watches how you code — not what you code.

It silently tracks your typing rhythm, error patterns, context switching, and session length, then turns those signals into a real-time cognitive load score from 0–100. When that score climbs too high, it tells you to step away before burnout sets in.

No accounts. No cloud. Your code never leaves your machine.

🧠 How It Works

IntelliDev samples four behavioral dimensions continuously while you work:

Signal	What's measured
⌨️ TYPING	Rhythm, variability, backspace rate, pauses between bursts
🐛 ERRORS	Compilation error frequency, burst detection, debug session count
🔀 CONTEXT	File switch frequency, rapid switches, unique files touched per window
⏱️ SESSION	Total time coded, deep work blocks, idle ratio, night-time activity

These feed a 20-rule scoring engine across all four categories. The result updates in real time — no polling delay, no background processes calling home.

📊 Score Levels

Your cognitive load score sits on a spectrum with clear, actionable guidance at every stage:

  0 ──────────── 30 ──────────── 60 ──────────── 80 ─────── 100
  │                │               │               │            │
  │  🟢 STABLE    │  🟡 MILD      │  🟠 HIGH      │  🔴 RISK  │
  │   FOCUS        │   STRAIN      │   LOAD        │            │
  │                │               │               │            │
  │  You're in     │  Consider a   │  Take a       │  Stop.     │
  │  flow.         │  short break. │  10–15 min    │  Rest 30+  │
  │  Keep going.   │               │  break.       │  minutes.  │
  │                │               │               │            │
  0 ──────────── 30 ──────────── 60 ──────────── 80 ─────── 100

🎯 Personal Baseline

Generic thresholds are unfair. A naturally fast typer looks "overloaded" to a dumb threshold. Someone who prefers coding at night gets flagged every evening. IntelliDev fixes this.

After 10 sessions of coding, IntelliDev locks a personal baseline calibrated to your individual patterns using Pearson z-scores:

📌 Scores are relative to your norm, not a population average
⚡ Fast typers are not penalised for high KPM
🌙 Night owls are not flagged unfairly for late sessions
🔄 The baseline auto-recalibrates every 30 sessions as your patterns evolve

During calibration, the dashboard shows rule-based estimates with a progress bar so you always know how far along you are.

🖥️ Dashboard

Open the IntelliDev panel from the activity bar. Everything you need is in one place.

Panel	What it shows
📊 Live gauge	Current cognitive load score, updated in real time
📈 Score trend	Score history across all your sessions
🧩 Category breakdown	Typing, errors, context, and session contributions
🔴 Error density	Error rate spikes and peaks over time
🔀 Context switching	File switch frequency and rapid-switch patterns
🎯 Deep work vs. idle	Focus blocks compared to idle time per session
🗓️ Heatmap	Cognitive load patterns by time of day
📅 Weekly and monthly	Period comparisons with delta highlights
🔔 Alert history	Full log of every alert, with timestamps and scores

🔔 Alerts

IntelliDev surfaces cognitive load signals non-intrusively — no sudden popups while you're deep in code. Alerts are delivered in two silent ways:

Status Bar (bottom of VS Code)

The status bar item updates automatically every time a new score is produced. The icon, text, and background color all change based on your current load level:

Score	Status Bar appearance
0–29	`$(pulse) IntelliDev: Stable Focus (24/100)` — no highlight
30–59	`$(pulse) IntelliDev: Mild Strain (45/100)` — no highlight
60–79	`$(warning) IntelliDev: High Cognitive Load (72/100)` — orange background
≥ 80	`$(error) IntelliDev: Burnout Risk (85/100)` — red background

Hover over the status bar item at any time to see a tooltip with your exact score, load level, and a personalised recommendation — without interrupting your flow.

Sidebar Alert History

Every alert is also saved locally and shown in the Recent Alerts panel inside the IntelliDev sidebar dashboard. You can review them at your own pace.

Trigger	Alert type
Score ≥ 60	🟠 Overload
Score ≥ 80	🔴 Burnout risk
2+ hours continuous	⏱️ Long session
After 10 pm (15 min+)	🌙 Night coding

All alerts respect a 5-minute cooldown so they never flood the history. Night alerts use a separate 30-minute cooldown.

Alert timestamps always reflect your local timezone, including on Windows machines where the VS Code extension host can default to UTC.

🔒 Privacy

IntelliDev was designed from the ground up with privacy as a hard constraint, not an afterthought.

✅ Cannot read your code — The VS Code API used (onDidChangeTextDocument) provides typing metadata only. It is technically incapable of capturing source code content.

✅ No filenames or snippets stored — Session files contain only numbers. No file names, no code, no personal information.

✅ Fully local — Everything runs inside VS Code. No external servers, no network calls, no background processes.

✅ Auto cleanup — Session files older than 90 days are automatically deleted.

⚙️ Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`intellidev.alertThreshold`	`60`	Score threshold for overload alerts (0–100)
`intellidev.dataPath`	(empty)	Custom path for session storage. Leave empty to use VS Code's default global storage.

⏸️ Pause Tracking

Click the pause button in the IntelliDev sidebar title bar to stop tracking during a meeting or break. Click play to resume. The status bar always reflects the current state.

🗂️ Data Management

All data lives on your machine. The dashboard gives you full control.

Action	What it does
🔄 Reset baseline only	Wipes the calibration and restarts it, keeping all session history
🗑️ Delete all session data	Removes all local files and resets calibration
💥 Full wipe	Deletes everything and generates a new anonymous identity

Every action requires a confirmation step. There is nothing on a server to contact or revoke.

📦 Installation

VS Code / Cursor / Codium

Search for IntelliDev in the Extensions panel, or use the install buttons at the top of this page.

Open VSX — VSCodium, Gitpod, and compatible editors

Available on the Open VSX Registry. Any editor that supports Open VSX can install IntelliDev directly from its Extensions panel — no manual steps needed.

Requirements: VS Code 1.85 or later. No additional runtimes or dependencies.

Built with care by Zara and Marwa

GitHub · Report a bug · Request a feature · Open VSX

Marwa&Zara